


Nothing Else Matters

by kelex



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 09:45:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tighter you hold onto something, the faster it slips through your fingers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Else Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Title snitched from the Metallica song of the same name.

Dean was utterly convinced that every hotel in the world conspired with each other to have the same shit brown and puke green carpets and bedspreads in every room no matter what the chain or if it were independently owned.

He was also convinced that every room had the same shitty beds with the same shitty flat pillows and thin blankets, the same broken spring in the middle of the mattress. The same dingy lampshades and filthy window blinds, the same crappy ice machines that spit out half-frozen cubes and slushy water.

Or maybe it was just him. Maybe it was sleeping in a different city every week while worrying about Sammy's nightmares and his father's whereabouts, hoping that one day soon they'd find the demon that killed their mother so that Dad could just come the fuck *home* and Sammy could go back to fucking Stanford and be *safe.*

_*Take your brother outside as fast as you can.*_ Those words haunted Dean in and out of his dreams. He'd broken that rule when their father had first disappeared; he'd brought Sam back in, gotten his girlfriend killed, gotten him hurt, sliced to ribbons, hunted, kidnapped, and everything in between. And he was still holding onto Sam as hard as he could.

And Sam didn't seem to mind being held onto, at least until they found the demon. After that, Dean knew all bets were off. Sam'd be gone again.

Fuck.

Dean tossed and turned all night, wide awake and unable to stop thinking. It'd be so easy; take the wad of cash in his pocket, buy a one-way plane ticket to California, stick the ticket and the cash left over in Sammy's jacket pocket and haul ass out of there. Leave the kid alone with the ticket back to a normal life in the palm of his hand. 

Ignore his cell phone, block Sam's number entirely, cut every fucking tie to his brother and let him go.

But it was impossible. _*Nothing'll ever happen to you as long as I'm around.*_ Now that he'd brought Sam into the hunt again, it was impossible for Dean to think about leaving Sam alone and unprotected. Forget that Sam was an entirely capable hunter; protecting Sammy seemed to have been drilled into Dean's DNA.

Fuck.

Dean watched the hands on the clock sweep in circle after circle, watched the sky lighten and the street fill with cars. When he couldn't stand lying in bed another second, he dragged himself out of bed and got dressed. Sam didn't even stir, and Dean walked outside to pull on his boots.

A walk to the mini-mart across the street revealed a newspaper box in the parking lot, which he looked at as he walked past. He bought a newspaper on the way out, with the change from his breakfast and the warm bagel for Sam. 

His brother was still asleep when Dean got back to the room, and he pitched the bagel over. It landed in the middle of Sam's chest and it jerked him awake. "Whoa, hot!" 

Dean smirked and tossed the newspaper to his brother. "Wake up, sunshine, cause we got a lot of road to cover." He used the cocky grin to hide his concern over the dark circles under Sammy's eyes. "I'm drivin'."

The End


End file.
